20 February 2022
1059
R. Linda:
I am sorry to say Ben passed away and it has been a traumatic time for me, Mam. Unfortunately, Mam had a bad fall and had a brain bleed. This has kept her from the funeral arrangements and she is upset quite naturally. I ordered flowers from the family and she ordered a special spray from herself. I went to the viewing and would attend the funeral in her stead.
When I got to the viewing, one of Ben's relatives asked if I'd like a photo of Ben in his casket for me Mam. OH NO, says I, she'd prefer to remember him as he was alive. Oh my, she'd freak on me I brought her such a photo.
While I was there I got a delivery message on my phone that the flowers were delivered. I looked and I saw no flowers from me nor me Mam. I asked the funeral director out of curiosity about them and he informed me what flowers that had come were out. I looked thinking maybe the florist sent different flowers but I saw none with our names on them.
I texted Mam who became upset about this development and I told her not to worry I would call the flower place and find out what was what. I rang 1-800 Flowers and got a woman with a thick foreign accent that I could barely understand. She told me the flowers were arriving later that day. OK then.
The next day was the funeral and I looked and still did not see our flowers. I went outside and rang up the flower company again and got, I think, the same woman as the day before. I said to her the funeral was NOW and still no flowers. And why send me a delivery confirmation when they never arrived. She didn't know why but told me they would be there today. What about the funeral be NOW didn't she understand? No explanation, just an assurance the spray and the bouquet were on their way later. I told her no later, refund NOW. I don't know if 1-800 Flowers works off a foreign time zone or what, but this was not acceptable. The woman put me on hold so many times, I lost count. She said she was refunding my money. So far I received no confirmation of this so I sic(ed) Paypal and me credit card company on her ass.
What the heck? I went with this company because we could not find a spray Mam liked for the service. Never again. I usually go through our local florist for things like this but thought this 1-800 Flowers would be more direct. You hear about them all the time, but maybe I need to pay more attention to just what you hear about them. NEVER AGAIN! And me poor Mam was so upset I can't tell you, and she who is supposed to be 'quiet' and rest.
The story doesn't end here.
Ben had two sisters, the one who took care of the arrangements, and the other who prides herself on being a professor of English literature somewhere in Massachusetts. This sister has competed with the older sister all their lives, and the older sister being a very good-looking woman has always made the more intellectual one feel unattractive around her. So as Mam has shown me photos sent to Ben, the younger one photoshops the hell out of herself and looks quite like a wax manikin from Madame Tussaud's Wax Works. She hasn't seen Ben or her sister for 40-some years.
Well, come to find out she did not send a card, or come up for the viewing or the funeral because SHE was upset. How can that be? Everyone was upset and everyone made it. Maybe she'd feel embarrassed at not having seen her siblings all these years, OR maybe it was the fact she wouldn't come in person because we'd see the unphotoshopped real person, and she just can't have that. Is this possible? Someone would be so vain as to not see their relative laid to rest over such a thing?
I don't know what the world is coming to.
Gabe
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